The Beginning
The Eternal called, and Chaos answered, and for a while that was enough. Then it called again, to bring forth light and the twins arose. For without light there is no darkness and without darkness one will not know light. So they stepped forth; Azura to rule the day, and Nox to rule the night. But as Nox moved to answer the call she heard pitiful cries from the shadowed void. The pain and desperation in those cries reached out to her and she turned again to comfort them. Her twin, knowing she would be unable to live without her sister, clasped her hand in an attempt to stop her. But Nox would not be deterred. She granted a piece of herself and the power over night to Azura. And so Azura became Azura-el of the day and Azura-nu of the night. The darkness, however, Nox kept for herself and her twin shone ever more with brilliance, even at day’s end. Nox returned then to the void and Azura stretched herself above her twin and became the never-ending sky. But Chaos, the Sky and the Void were not enough. Chaos, the goddess Kalia, stretched forth her hand to create worlds but her power was too great. Her creations were dark, twisted things called genies, who fled into the deepest reaches of the void once their worlds collapsed. Kalia called again to The Eternal and it answered, bringing forth Waton to add Law and Order to the universe. But it was not in Waton’s nature to yield to chaos. Instead, he rose up and imposed his order on Kalia, making her his wife. Under his control her powers were leashed. Together they were able to create worlds and so the goddess Xylophia of the Earth and Plants was born. Xylophia’s power was great and spread abroad and so Zanthos sprang up to stop her expansion. He became the seas that defined her boundaries and the waters that covered her lowest levels. Waton also breathed life into Azura's empty sky, helping her to more clearly define day from night. For before, there had simply been the waxing and waning of light to separate the time. In gratitude Azura-el came down to sit at his side and aid in his judgment by highlighting the good in others. Kalia, though now able to create worlds, wept at Waton’s caging of her true self and Iselda, the goddess of Ice and Frost sprang from her cold tears. And now the gods were seven. Together they created diverse creatures to populate the worlds that had been made. But alas, their delight and curiosity in these creatures let to their constant meddling and interference in the affairs the things they had created. World after world was destroyed, unable to bear the weight of their creators. And from each destroyed world, a Hell Dimension was born. Until finally, Eclauria was created. The gods, looking upon this new world, made a pact with each other that they would limit their interference, so this world would survive. Each sent a bit of their power into the world as blessings then departed. And for a time, all was well. Then Kalia escaped and, in revenge against her husband, taught the language of the gods to man. This act roused the anger of the gods and they stripped her of her powers and cast her out. However, while her powers were yet being stripped, the day passed and Azura-el became Azura-nu. Azura-nu, being an ally of Chaos, ceased her part in the ritual, causing the powers of chaos to escape into the world. Though Kalia had fallen men revered her as the goddess of knowledge and so she, taking up the mantle, came into a new power, one that allowed her to walk the earth and interfere in the affairs of man. Yet with the powers of chaos loose, pain and disorder abounded upon what was once a beautiful universe. Death was born in the shadows and granted Nox control over its power. The god, Nuneus sprang into being, full of War and Fire. He gathered much of chaos into himself, preventing the world from over-turning. Nuneus was born of the universe, and so for a time it could bear his weight. Not having been born at the time of the pact he was not bound by it, and he alone could cause great interference in the world. But the world could only accept him for short periods and so he went up to his fellow gods. Yet there are times when his presence can be borne by the universe and in these times he returns. And so there is and will always be a season for war. For her part in allowing Kalia's power to escape, Waton locked Azura-nu at nights in what was once Kalia's cage, but allows Azura-el to leave at each day's dawning. The moon, which once shone with a brilliance that was close to the sun, lost its power and became a dim reflection of its former glory. Now Nuneus could not help but be attracted to his opposite, Iselda and she soon grew to share his feelings. Their love was great and powerful yet doomed. For in the moment of their joining the heat that Nuneus carries within him started to melt the ice which is at the center of Iselda's being. In pain Iselda fled to a far place, where she collapsed weeping. Her tears were so great that they fell through space and landed on Eclauria's surface. She, who was born of her mother's tears, caused mountains to spring up from her own. Nuneus, for his part, roared in sorrow, and the force of his grief scorched the earth, creating the Firelands. The gods counted this a lucky thing, for in creating the Ice Mountains Iselda had disrupted the world, but in creating the Firelands Nuneus had acted as a counter-weight, restoring balance. And so the gods learned that when two gods interfere in the world from opposite ends, a balance would arise. The gods smiled, for this meant that the world was not as lost to them as they had thought.